Virgin Islands

The Virgin Islands are the western island group of the Leeward Islands, which are the northern part of the Lesser Antilles, and form the border between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Politically, the eastern islands form the British Virgin Islands and the western ones form the United States Virgin Islands. The British Virgin Islands is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom comprising approximately 60 islands and cays including Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke, and Anegada.

The U.S. Virgin Islands is one of five inhabited insular areas of the United States, along with American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico. The territory comprises a number of islands including St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas and Water Island.

The Virgin Passage separates the American Virgin Islands from the so-called Spanish Virgin Islands of Vieques and Culebra, which are part of Puerto Rico. The United States dollar is the official currency on both the British and American Virgin Islands as well as the Spanish/Puerto Rican Virgin Islands.

United States Virgin Islands

The U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI; also called the United States Virgin Islands or the American Virgin Islands), officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.

The U.S. Virgin Islands consist of the main islands of Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint Thomas, and many other surrounding minor islands. The total land area of the territory is 133.73 square miles (346.4 km²). The territory's capital is Charlotte Amalie on the island of Saint Thomas.

In 2010 the population was 106,405, and mostly Afro-Caribbean. Tourism is the primary economic activity, although there is a significant rum manufacturing sector. Farming is done on a relatively smaller scale on the island of St. Croix, although it has seen a slow revival in recent years.

Previously the Danish West Indies of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway, they were sold to the United States by Denmark in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies of 1916. They are classified by the UN as a Non-Self-Governing Territory, and are currently an organized, unincorporated United States territory. The U.S. Virgin Islands are organized under the 1954 Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands and have since held five constitutional conventions. The last and only proposed Constitution, adopted by the Fifth Constitutional Convention in 2009, was rejected by the U.S. Congress in 2010, which urged the convention to reconvene to address the concerns Congress and the Obama Administration had with the proposed document. The convention reconvened in October 2012 to address these concerns, but was not able to produce a revised Constitution before its October 31 deadline.

Virgin Islands (disambiguation)

The Virgin Islands are the part of the Leeward Islands immediately east of Puerto Rico.

Virgin Islands may also refer to:

Virgin Island may also refer to:

Saint Thomas

Saint Thomas or St Thomas may refer to:

People

Saint-Thomas, Aisne

Saint-Thomas is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.

Population

See also

References

Thomas Hansen (musician)

Thomas Hansen (February 13, 1976 – September 5, 2007) was a Norwegian alt-country musician performing under the name Saint Thomas (previously St. Thomas).

He became a musician after quitting his job as a mailman after hearing music from Elliott Smith and Will Oldham. He formed a short-lived band called Emily Lang before attempting solo work. His music caught the eye of a very small Norwegian label, which released 200 copies of his debut 7" "Songs," and the French label Darjeeling Sounds released his first proper album Surfer's Morning in limited numbers.

Hansen's biggest break came shortly after Norway's Quart Festival in 1999, where he got signed to Racing Junior. His first album, I'm Coming Home, was preceded by "The Cornerman EP," which was a summer chart success in Norway in 2001. The album then received international releases throughout 2002.

Hansen since released three other albums, and also toured Europe with Lambchop and the United States in 2005 with Of Montreal. His next album, Children Of The New Brigade, was released in August 2005 in Norway by Racing Junior. His work was also released on Misra Records.

Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Saint Thomas (Spanish: Santo Tomás; Dutch: Sint-Thomas; Danish: Sankt Thomas) is one of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea and, together with St. John and St. Croix, forms a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States. Located on the island is the territorial capital and port of Charlotte Amalie. As of the 2010 census, the population of Saint Thomas was 51,634 about 48.5% of the US Virgin Islands total. The district has a land area of 31.24 square miles (80.9 km²).

History

Pre-colonial history

The island was originally settled around 1500 BC by the Ciboney people. They were later replaced by the Arawaks and then the Caribs. Christopher Columbus sighted the island in 1493 on his second voyage to the "New World".

Danish colonial period

The Dutch West India Company established a post on Saint Thomas in 1657. The first congregation was the St. Thomas Reformed Church, which was established in 1660 and was associated with the Dutch Reformed Church.